• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.203-213
• /
• 2021

This study aimed to examine the policy priorities to enhance the service quality of the agro-healing for mental health care using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). The subjects were 67 people working in mental health institutions. The result of the IPA for the design of the agro-healing policy, in a total of 5 policy areas, the importance and performance were found to be 'above average', and it was confirmed that 'Keep up the Good Work' level. This is thought to have had a positive effect on raising the policy awareness of experts in mental health related institutions as the government's support for agro-healing and R & D increased according to the enactment of the act. Therefore, the results of this study provided basic information on the development and revitalization of agro-healing service quality for mental health care.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.85-92
• /
• 2021

As the paradigm of green has been expended as the core of sustainable development in Korea, agro-healing projects increasingly have been a priority at the national policy and investment area. But little is known about the current overview of national research and development(R&D) related to agro-healing. The aim of this study was generally to investigate the research trends of national R&D related to agro-healing over the past five years. Dataset were gathered from provided by National Science & Technology Information Service(NTIS), word cloud techniques were applied. The main results showed that amounts of number and funding related to agro-healing projects have been increasing. In particular, the Rural Development Administration had the highest number of research, and it was found that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have spended a lot of money on agro-healing. As a results, it is necessary to expand the scope of the field of agro-healing projects, especially at the multisectoral and intersectoral level for improving health, well-being and a sustainable future.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.573-584
• /
• 2021

Background and objective: This study was conducted with 10 men and women in their 50s-60s to investigate the effect of agro-healing activities on the improvement of mental health. Methods: The experimental group participated in total 8 sessions of agro-healing activities, once a week for 2 hours each, at a care farm in Wanju-gun. Physiological measurements were taken with an electroencephalogram (EEG), Salivettes samples, and blood pressure before and after the activities. Results: As a result of analyzing the changes in brainwaves of the experimental group before and after agro-healing activities, relative slow alpha (RSA), relative fast alpha (RFA), and ratio of alpha to high beta (RAHB), the indices of stability and relaxation, increased after the program with statistical significance. Also, the ratio of SMR to theta (RST) of the attention index increased on the right frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and left occipital lobes, and relative low beta (RLB) increasd on the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and occipital lobes after the program with statistical significance. The sympathetic nervous system activity, which is a stress index, decreased after the program, whereas the parasympathetic nervous system activity, which is a relaxation index, increased, showing statistical significance (p < .05). As a result of analyzing the changes in blood pressure after the program, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure decreased from prehypertension to normal blood pressure, showing statistical significance. SThese results indicate that participating in agro-healing activities at a care farm for the 50-60s helps reduce stress and improve stability and relaxation as well as attention. Conclusion: Thus, developing and applying customized agro-healing programs for participants will have a positive effect on brain activity and psychophysiological improvement by relieving tension and stress. However, there are limitations in generalizing the results of this study since most of agro-healing farms have low accessibility that leads to a low level of participants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.49-56
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between types of self-care activities and demand of agro-healing services in adults with disabilities. Data were obtained from a survey of 160 adults with disabilities dwelling in Korea and SPSS 25.0 software was used for frequency, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The main results applying the Behavioral Model for vulnerable populations were as follows: 1) among the different types of their self-care activities, the mean of passive perceptions score was 1.13(SD=0.81), the mean of physical behaviors score was 3.01(SD=1.04), the mean of social relationships score was 1.40(SD=1.42) and the mean of agro-healing services utilization per year was 4.30(SD=2.55), 2) passive perceptions and social relationships in their self-care activities positively affected demand of agro-healing services, 3) age, perceived physical health, perceived mental health, region of adults with disabilities were also significantly associated with demand of agro-healing services. Based on these results, practical and political implications for promoting self-care activities and agro-healing services in adults with disabilities were discussed.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2023

This study aims to examine the effect of healing program using insect. For the insect resources, the program uses 3 species of emotional insects. The subjects were a total of 29, the elderly with mild dementia and adults with developmental disabilities in the facility. The activities are 9 programs in total and each program takes 2 hours once a week. For data collection, we measured a blood pressure, stress level using autonomic nervous system activity, and scale of happiness, depression and insomnia by a survey. The datas were collected every week before and after the program. As a result of paired-sample t-test analysis, the participants of the agro-healing program using insects had positive effects as follows: reducing a depression, relieving a symptom of insomnia and stabilizing a blood pressure. Through the results of this study, it was possible to confirm the positive effects of the agro-healing program using insects. If farms lead agro-healing program using insects on their own, it could be expected to contribute to improve the quality of life through agriculture as well as to improve the farms' income.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.93-103
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and future challenges in providing of social service based on agro-healing. The study conducted was a general qualitative research which involved the collection and analysis of experiences shared by four representatives of participating in Gyeonggi-do community service investment pilot project. The data were gathered through individual in-depth interviews, and the findings were thoroughly analyzed to draw meaningful insights. The study revealed three main topics of discussion: "knowing the necessity of entering social services," "thresholds to be crossed to enter social services," and "future tasks". Based on the these results, implications for the development of community social services related to agro-healing were suggested, and the limitations were also discussed.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.419-429
• /
• 2016

This study focuses on the policy priorities for training agro-healing experts. Training agro-healing experts is an important task that should boost local community in rural areas. In order to make an efficient decision making, the study analyses priority of relevant policies using the AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) method. According to the results, R&D comes out first. Human Resource Development(HRD), financial support, and the construction of legal system comes after R&D. In R&D, qualifications and guidelines for participants comes out the most significant issue. In the aspect of HRD, it is very important to develop and utilize regional personnel such as unemployed youth and retirees from related fields. As for financial support, funding for educational facilities (i.e. classrooms and farmland for practice) is needed. In case of legal system, it is desirable to introduce the recruiting experts system and qualification system certified by government.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.425-434
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate psychological and physiological changes of elderly affected by agro-healing activities. To meet the purpose, we conducted an agro-healing program with 20 elderly participants (average age 77.6±5.84 men and women) and once a week in total seven sessions. The Korean version of the Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument (BEPSI-K), Korean version of the Short Form of Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS-K), participants' satisfaction with the program, Salivettes system method, and blood pressure were measured to find out the effects of agro-healing activities. BEPSI-K decreased by 5% in the high stress group although it was not statistically significant. The result of program satisfaction showed that 75% of the participants are satisfied with these activities. We investigated how many and what kind of chronic diseases the participants have had before they joined the program. As a result, hypertension was most common(35.6%), followed by hyperlipidemia, diabetes, arthritis, lumbago, osteoporosis, and heart disease. Systolic blood pressure after the activities decreased significantly from 144.75mmHg (stage 1 hypertension), to 132.90mmHg(prehypertension stage). As a result of analyzing the correlations between general matters such as age, education level, average income of the participants, psychological scale and number of diseases, it was found that participants' satisfaction had a negative correlation with depression. In conclusion, agro-healing is very useful in relieving stress or lowering blood pressure for the elderly whose most common disease is hypertension. Agro-healing activities are proved to have positive uses in reducing the problems of the modern society with severe issues of the aging population.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.15-29
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the exhibition displays and events of the Agro-healing Experience Hall in the Agricultural Technology Exhibition 2018 on satisfaction and revisit intention of visitors. A survey was conducted on visitors of the Agro-healing Experience Hall and the responses of 274 visitors excluding 26 cases with inappropriate responses were analyzed. For psychological measurement, the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS), Profile of Mood States (POMS), level of plant gardening experience, satisfaction and loyalty were measured. There was a significant difference among age groups in all four factors of the PRS (repose, fascination, coherence, and legibility). In the case of education level, there was a significant difference in the three factors (repose, fascination, and legibility). In addition, average monthly income showed a significant difference among groups in the two factors (fascination and coherence). As a result of analyzing the mood states of visitors for the exhibition events of the Agro-healing Experience Hall, there was a significant difference among age groups only in the case of vigor (p < .05). As a result of analyzing the correlation between the level of plant gardening activities (3 factors) and PRS (4 factors) in the exhibition events of the Agro-healing Experience Hall, plant preference tendency and plant-related event showed a high positive correlation of 0.5 or more with repose of the PRS factors. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of the level of plant gardening activities, PRS and POMS on the satisfaction and loyalty of visitors. As a result, it was found that in terms of relative explanatory power over independent variables affecting satisfaction and revisit intention, fascination had the greatest effect, followed by vigor, fatigue, and occupation (company employee). The results of this study suggest that exhibition events of the Agro-healing Experience Hall affect repose, fascination or vigor of visitors, and thus can be used positively to increase satisfaction and revisit intention of visitors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.211-219
• /
• 2023

In this study, the importance of each design element was analyzed by surveying experts in the development of Agro-Healing Virtual Reality Therapy System. It was found that the results of experts content importance were consistent with the results of consumer preferences in previous studies, such as psychological and emotional stability as the main effect the importance of sight and hearing, a relatively short time of 30 minutes or less, a low price of 5,000 won or less, technical factors that can satisfy the five senses, and various contents. When the spatial elements of the Agro-Healing Virtual Reality Therapy System were categorized into three major categories: elements and equipment, lines and paths, and sites and spaces, 'flowers', 'playgrounds', 'paths', 'sidewalks', 'rest areas' and 'gardens' were found to be highly important. Among the components of Agro-Healing Virtual Reality Therapy System, the usability was divided into eight major categories, including searchability, attractiveness, cognition, error handling, control, consistency, convenience, and feedback, and the importance was analyzed for each component. The significance of this study is that it suggests the design direction of virtual healing farm systems and provides effective information that can be used in the development of related systems in the future.